Adjustable orthopedic insoles

ABSTRACT

There are provided in accordance with the present invention adjustable orthopedic insoles including a foothold having a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support, so that a camber located beneath the medial arc support provides a clearance located between the foothold, and at least one arcuate abutment mountable in the aforementioned camber. Conjointly, a methods of adjusting orthopedic insoles to a user employing a set of adjustable orthopedic insoles including selecting the most comfortable combination of the footholds and arcuate abutments and of adjusting metatarsal support of the orthopedic insoles of by selecting the most comfortable metatarsal insert are further disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority to Israeli PatentApplication Serial Number 176442, filed Jun. 20, 2006, entitled“ADJUSTABLE ORTHOPEDIC INSOLES;” the aforementioned application isincorporated herein by this reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to orthotics and in particularto orthopedic adjustable insoles having replaceable abutments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Orthopedic insoles are shoe inserts providing supportive surface to thefoothold. Normally such insoles are intended to correct an abnormal orirregular foot pattern and elevate physical discomfort. They aretypically arcuate in specific curvature angles to be adapted to the footpattern thereby making standing, walking, or running, more comfortable.

Much effort has been invested in order to make orthopedic insoles moreeffective. U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,578 discloses an orthopedic insolestructure having metatarsal and tarsal support portions and anintermediate arch support portion interposed between. Shock absorbingpads are inserted into recesses located at the tarsal and metatarsalsupport portions. A third insert, which is more rigid than the insole,is inserted in a recess located below the intermediate arc supportportion of the insole.

Normally measuring characteristics a person's foot is not accurateenough. Therefore, fitting new insoles is usually involves an adaptationphase in which the user visits the insole provider once or several timesfor an additional adjustment and fine-tuning. An expert orthotisttypically provides such a service. Therefore orthopedic insolesadjustable by the user are called for.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an orthopedic insole onto which anarcuate abutment is mounted according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the arcuate abutment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom side view of the orthopedic insole without thearcuate abutment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a base frame of a foothold according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of an exemplary metatarsal insert.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention an adjustable orthopedic insoleis provided. The adjustable orthopedic insole consists of a foothold anda replaceable arcuate abutment. According to the invention a user isprovided with a set of adjustable orthopedic insoles including a pair offootholds and a few pairs of matching arcuate abutments that slightlydiffer one from the other. The user himself, as is further describedbelow, carries out adjustment of the orthopedic insole to his foot.

Adjustable Orthopedic Insole

Reference is first made to FIG. 1 showing adjustable orthopedic insole10 consisting of foothold 12 and abutment 14 mounted beneath and facingits inward looking side 16. Foothold 12 has a base frame, not shown, thetopside of which and a portion of its bottom is covered as furtherdescribed infra. The base frame is typically made of thermoplastic rigidmaterial such as polypropylene and PVC. Although made of rigidmaterials, the base frame is somewhat elastic due to its substantiallysmall thickness and is therefore mostly longitudinally and somewhattransversally bendable. Abutment 14 can be either rigid when made of thesame materials as the base frame, or flexible. Foothold 12 has optionalarcuate metatarsal support 18, tarsal support 20 and medial arc support22.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 2-3 in which an isometric view of anarcuate abutment and a bottom side view of a foothold shown in FIG. 1are respectively shown. Abutment 30 has pins 32 upwardly protruding fromtopside 34. Topside 34 is longitudinally arcuate and its upper surfaceslopes towards end 35. The height of the topmost point of abutment 30and the various curvature angles of its upper face are made such thatwhen inserted beneath a foothold, the height and curvature angles of themedial arc support conforms to the desired curvature angles of themedial arc of the user's foot. Pins 32 and the rear wall 36 provide forfitting abutment 30 in place when mounted beneath foothold 40. Recesses42 longitudinally disposed at camber 43 provide for fitting the abutmentin place by means of its upwardly protruding pins. Pins 32 and theconforming recesses 42 can be replaced by protrusions of any shape andnumber disposed on the upper face of the abutment and conforming withrespective recesses disposed at the bottom face of the camber, or by anyother keying mechanism as known in the art. Any such keying mechanismhas at least one keying member of one kind such as a male keying memberprotruding either from the tope surface of the abutment or from thecamber and its conforming keying member of the other kind, which is inthis case a female keying member, located at the bottom face of thecamber or the tope surface of the abutment respectively. Camber 43provides for clearance located between the medial arc support offoothold 40 and the inner sole of the user's shoe. This clearance iseither filled with the abutment when inserted, or left vacant. Obviouslyin a case that this clearance is kept vacant only the foothold by itselfsupports the medial arc of the user. Cover 44, which is made of the samematerial of the top cover, disposed across the topside of foothold 40,covers the front end of the bottom face 45 of foothold 40. Cover 44 istypically made of fabric, leather, neoprene, or plastic resins such asnylon. Towards the front end, foothold 40 exhibits concavity 46 inbottom face 45 whereto a complimentary convex metatarsal insert, notshown, can be introduced, as will be elaborated infra. Foothold 40,towards the rear end may further have recess 48.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 showing base frame 60 of a footholdaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Camber 62is located at inward looking face 64 of base frame 60. The supportingface 66 and recesses longitudinally disposed along camber 62, not shown,respectively conform with the upwardly protruding pins and the rear wallof an abutment. Aperture 70 provides for inserting an optionalshock-absorbing pad serving as a tarsal support in addition to the rigidinclined portion of the base frame adjacent to supporting face 66. Suchrigid support is useful especially in cases of excessive supination. Anoptional arcuate metatarsal support 72 is located at the front lowerpart of medial arc support 74. Such an arcuate support made of eithershock absorbing, flexible or rigid, material, is attached to the topface of base frame 60 prior to its covering with the top cover asdescribed hereinabove. Base frames of the invention conformal to thefeet of a user are manufactured such as by injection-molding, utilizingplastic resins and by employing suitable molds. The additional optionalsupporting pads are attached in its respective places prior to theattaching and or molding of the respective top and bottom covers.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5 which is an isometric view of anexemplary metatarsal insert 80 to be inserted into concavity 46 shown inFIG. 3. Again in FIG. 5, patch 81 is typically made of a flexiblematerial and surface 82 thereof may be coated with adhesives. Convexdome 84 extends upwards surface 82 and can be made of elastic or rigidmaterials. In some embodiments the metatarsal insert can have atear-like shape.

Adjusting an Orthopedic Insole

A user is provided with a set of orthopedic insoles including a pair of(left and right) footholds and often two, or typically three, pairs of(left and right) matching abutments. The two or three pairs of abutmentsslightly differ in their maximal heights and are color codedaccordingly. For example, the pair of the highest abutments are coloredred and the dimensions of each of its members best fit in the desiredpattern of the user feet. A yellow pair is somewhat lower and a violetpair is further slightly lower. The user will choose by trial the pairthat best accommodates to his foot patterns. The red and yellowabutments are typically made of rigid material; whereas the violet pairis made for example of gel that is elastic and therefore can besimultaneously elongated and lowered when stressed. Obviously a user maychoose to use only the footholds without the abutments, which is anotheroptional way of adjusting the insoles to a user foot. The maximal heightas well as the curvature angles of the top surface of the two abutmentsof a pair need not be the same. The height of the right abutment can belarger than the height of the left of an exemplary pair suitable to auser whose right leg is the dominant one.

The metatarsal support of the orthopedic insoles can be further adjustedby inserting various metatarsal inserts, possibly of different sizes andor different rigidity, into the concavity towards the front end of thefoothold, such as concavity 46 shown in FIG. 5. The optimal metatarsalsupport can be achieved upon choosing by trial the size and or therigidity of a metatarsal insert that accommodate user's foot pattern thebest. The metatarsal insert can be appended into the concavity and theflexible patch thereof can be further adhesively engaged to thefoothold.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized thatthe optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the embodimentsof the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form,function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readilyapparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalentrelationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in thespecification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of theprinciples of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of theinvention. While the invention has been described with respect to alimited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that manyvariations, modifications and other applications of the invention may bemade.

1. An adjustable orthopedic insole comprising a foothold having a baseframe, a medial arc support and a tarsal support, wherein a camberlocated beneath said medial arc support provides a clearance locatedbetween said foothold when inserted into a shoe and the inner sole ofsaid shoe; at least one arcuate abutment mountable in said camber, andwherein said arcuate abutment has a rear wall, and wherein said rearwall conforms a supporting face of said camber.
 2. An adjustableorthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said arcuate abutment has atleast one keying member of the first kind conforming a keying member ofthe second kind disposed at the bottom face of said camber.
 3. Anadjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said foothold has atarsal support including at least an inclined portion of said base frameadjacent to said supporting face.
 4. An adjustable orthopedic insole asin claim 1, wherein said at least one arcuate abutment is made of rigidmaterial.
 5. An adjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein saidat least one arcuate abutments is elongated when stressed.
 6. Anadjustable orthopedic insole as in claim 1, wherein said footholdfurther has towards the front end a concavity for a metatarsal insert.7. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles comprising a pair of footholdshaving a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support each,wherein a camber located beneath said medial arc support provides aclearance located between said foothold when inserted into a shoe andthe inner sole of said shoe; at least two pairs of matching arcuateabutments, wherein said matching arcuate abutments are each mountable ina respective camber of said footholds, and wherein the maximal height ofany arcuate abutment of the first pair of said at least two pairs ofmatching arcuate abutments is somewhat larger than the maximal height ofthe respective arcuate abutment of the second pair of said at least twomatching arcuate abutments, and wherein each of said matching arcuateabutments has a rear wall conforming with a supporting face of saidrespective camber.
 8. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim7, wherein each of said arcuate abutments has at least one keying memberof the first kind conforming a keying member of the second kind disposedat the bottom face of said respective camber.
 9. A set of adjustableorthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein each of said footholds has atarsal support including at least an inclined portion of said base frameadjacent to said supporting face.
 10. A set of adjustable orthopedicinsoles as in claim 7, wherein each arcuate abutment of at least one ofsaid at least two pairs of arcuate abutments is made of rigid material.11. A set of adjustable orthopedic insoles as in claim 7, wherein eacharcuate abutment of at least one of said at least two arcuate abutmentsis elongated when stressed.
 12. A set of adjustable orthopedic insolesas in claim 7, wherein each said foothold further has a concavity for ametatarsal insert towards the front end.
 13. A method for adjustingorthopedic insoles to a user employing a set of adjustable orthopedicinsoles, wherein said set of adjustable orthopedic insoles includes apair of footholds and at least two pairs of arcuate abutments, saidmethod comprising selecting the most comfortable combination of saidfootholds and members selected from a group of members, wherein saidmembers are respectively mounted onto said footholds, and wherein saidgroup of members including all the arcuate abutments of said at leasttwo pairs of arcuate abutments and two empty groups, and wherein saidfoothold has a base frame, a medial arc support and a tarsal support,and wherein a camber located beneath said medial arc support providingclearance between said foothold and a sole of a shoe, and wherein eachof said arcuate abutment of each pair is mountable onto a respectivecamber of said footholds, and wherein the maximal height of each arcuateabutment of the first pair of said at least two pairs of arcuateabutments is somewhat larger than the maximal height of the respectivearcuate abutment of the second pair of said at least two arcuateabutments, and wherein a rear wall of each of said arcuate abutmentsconforms a supporting face of said respective camber.
 14. A method as inclaim 13, wherein each of said arcuate abutments has at least one keyingmember of the first kind conforming with a keying member of the secondkind disposed at the bottom face of said respective camber.
 15. A methodas in claim 13, wherein each of said footholds has a tarsal supportincluding at least an inclined portion of said base frame adjacent tosaid supporting face.
 16. A method as in claim 13, wherein each arcuateabutment of at least one of said at least two pairs of arcuate abutmentsis made of rigid material.
 17. A method as in claim 13, wherein eacharcuate abutment of at least one of said at least two pairs of arcuateabutments is elongated when stressed.
 18. A method as in claim 13,wherein said footholds further have a concavity for a metatarsal inserttowards the front end, and wherein said adjusting further comprisesinserting at least one of said metatarsal insert into at least said oneconcavity respectively.